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Levan Akin’s Crossing and Frida Kempff’s The Swedish Torpedo headed the winners at Sweden’s Guldbagge national film awards, presented in Stockholm on Monday, January 13.

Crossing won the best film award, presented to producer Mathilde Dedye – the second time Akin and Dedye have taken the top Guldbagge award, after And Then We Danced in 2020.

Scroll down for the full list of winners

Akin received the best director prize, with the film also winning best cinematography for Lisabi Fridell, and best sound design for Anne Gry Friis Kristensen and Sigrid Dpa Jensen.

Crossing opened the Panorama strand at last...

In Swedish filmmaker Ernst De Geer’s ”The Hypnosis” (2023), audiences are drawn into a meticulously crafted world that mirrors the internal struggles faced by social introverts. The film delves deep into the intricate dance of human interactions, presenting social gatherings as both a celebration and a minefield of unspoken tensions. Set against a backdrop of elegantly staged environments—from lavish dinner parties to intimate living rooms—the mise en scène plays a crucial role in amplifying the themes of vulnerability and discomfort. Every detail, from the soft yet piercing lighting to the carefully chosen color palettes, serves to heighten the emotional stakes, enveloping viewers in an atmosphere that oscillates between warmth and oppressive awkwardness.

De Geer’s narrative meticulously explores the psyche of its characters, exposing their fears and insecurities as they navigate the often treacherous waters of social expectations. The film captures the unguarded moments that underscore the complexities of human connection,...

Toni Erdmann wasn’t the first film to skewer corporate culture, but the epic-length comedy struck a chord with many for how it used a fish-out-of-water conceit to rupture the rigid, dehumanizing nature of that world. It’s likely the first movie that comes to mind watching The Hypnosis, a similarly high-concept tale aimed at deconstructing the social conventions of the boardroom, and whether the pursuit of professional success is of greater concern than maintaining close relationships with loved ones. It proves so similar in thematic interests that I began to imagine an enterprising movie producer buying the rights to the screenplay, giving it a few tweaks, and attempting to make it as “2-ni Erdmann”––although, admittedly, seeing Sandra Hüller experiencing bizarre side effects after an experimental treatment to quit smoking would make for the oddest comedy sequel this side of Weekend at Bernie’s II.

Ernst De Geer’s cringe-com follows André and Vera,...

Norwegian cinema has been enjoying a moment lately, what with Joachim Trier’s crowdpleasing The Worst Person in the World pulling up to Drive My Car in the Oscar race and Kristoffer Borgli’s Sick of Me carving out a rep on the festival circuit. The Hypnosis, Ernst de Geer’s feature debut, sits somewhere between the two of them, fashioning a fitfully funny relationship drama that tilts at some very modern windmills within a framework similar to Kristian Levring’s 2008 Danish drama Fear Me Not, in which a man’s personality changes after he becomes addicted to an experimental drug. The Hypnosis doesn’t quite follow that film’s melodramatic course, but there are similar thoughts raised about the human mind.

The two leads are André (Herbert Nordrum) and Vera (Asta Kamma August), a young middle-class couple who are launching...

There are certain moviegoers who can face onscreen murders, maimings and the grisliest of mutilations and scarcely bat an eyelid, but who feel every cell in their body die a little whenever a character is rude in a restaurant. If you happen to suffer from this condition, consider yourself warned about Swedish director Ernst De Geer’s feature debut “The Hypnosis” — a witty, incisive satire on the modern obsession with self-actualization, which is also, to those of us with heightened sensitivity to social awkwardness, 98 masochistic minutes of second-hand squirm. Many’s the film offered up as evidence for Roger Ebert’s often quoted assertion that cinema is “a machine for creating empathy”; fewer are the titles, like this one, that make one question if that’s necessarily a good thing.

Vera (Asta Kamma August) is carefully rehearsing her English-language pitch opener for Epione, a noble-sounding app that does something or...

Screen Rant is pleased to present an exclusive clip from the upcoming fourth episode of Agatha Christie’s Hjerson. The series is a Scandinavian comedy-drama based on the fictional detective written by the classic Christie character Ariadne Oliver. His stories have never before been adapted for film or television, but they have now been turned into a contemporary series. This playful meta whodunnit from the producers of Midsommar stars Johan Rheborg (My Life As A Comedian), Hanna Alström (Kingsman: The Secret Service), Maria Lundqvist (Mother of Mine), David Fukamachi Regnfors (Gentlemen & Gangsters), Björn Andrésen (Midsommar) and Peter Kanerva (Colorado Avenue).

Agatha Christie's Hjerson debuted its first three episodes on Topic on December 1, with subsequent episodes dropping on Thursdays. In it, Klara Sandberg (Alström) is a trashy TV producer who thinks she's found a way to reset her career: she needs to find Sven Hjerson, a once renowned criminal profiler who has chosen to retire,...

"You mean we now have two murders to solve?" Topic has unveiled a new US trailer for a Swedish crime series titled Agatha Christie's Hjerson, available to watch starting in December. This already premiered in Sweden last year, but is only making its way to US streaming services this fall. Agatha Christie's Hjerson is the first ever adaptation based on the fictional detective of Christie's fictional writer Ariadne Oliver; a playful, meta contemporary whodunnit from the producers of Midsommar and Before We Die. It follows the former criminal investigator Sven Hjerson who has previously involved in solving some of Sweden's most difficult cases of all time. For a few years now, he has retired from the limelight and now lives far under the radar. A life fraught with daily routines, vegan diet, dedicated vinyl collecting and an absolutely incredible love of gossip. He returns for a true crime show, only to discover a real murder.

Mikael Marcimain’s follow-up to award-winning Call Girl to open Swedish festival.

The Stockholm International Film Festival has revealed that Mikael Marcimain’s Gentlemen will open its 25th edition (Nov 5-16).

The adaptation of Klas Östergren’s eponymous novel will also compete in the Stockholm Xxv Competition section, and is nominated for the best film Bronze Horse Award.

The film centres on a young novelist who discovers the story of a lifetime when his host - a bon vivant and possible spy with friends in high places - reveals the existence of a conspiracy by Europe’s ultra-wealthy elite, who are secretly remodelling the continent to serve their own sinister needs.

The cast features David Dencik, David Fukamachi Regnfors, Ruth Vega Fernandez and Sverrir Gudnason.

Marcimain’s previous feature, Call Girl, opened Stockholm in 2012 where it won the audience award and went on to win the Fipresci prize at Toronto, where [link=tt...

The Toronto International Film Festival announced more selections Tuesday for the upcoming 2014 edition of the annual awards season kick-off. The majority of the festival's program was announced last month, but this group includes intriguing world premieres from notable directors such as Todd McCarthy ("The Cobbler") and Gina Prince-Bythewood ("Beyond the Lights"). A number of the titles revealed have screened at other festivals including the underrated "Infinitely Polar Bear" and "Laggies" from Sundance as well as Cannes players "Two Days, One Night," "The Search" and "Clouds of Sils Maria." And yes, the presence of "Sils Maria," which is a favorite of this particular writer, means Kristen Stewart will likely hit one of the festival's many red carpets. As you'd expect for Toronto, the world premieres feature some big names including Josh Hutcherson and Benicio Del Toro in "Escobar: Paradise Lost," Jean Dujardin in "The Connection (La French)," Dustin Hoffman in "Boychoir,...

The 2014 Toronto Film Festival, which begins Sept. 4, added seven Galas and 17 Special Presentations to its lineup, including a semi-serious Adam Sandler project from Tom McCarthy, the director of The Station Agent and The Visitor. In The Cobbler, Sandler plays a man who has the unique ability to walk in his customers’ shoes. The movie features Dustin Hoffman, who also stars in Boychoir, François Girard’s tale of an orphan’s steep learning curve at a prestigious music school. In Welcome to Me, Kristen Wiig plays a mentally unstable woman who wins the lottery and decides to sink her winnings into a talk show.

Expect to see a bevy of stars on the red carpet at the Toronto International Film Festival this September. Today, more Gala and Special Presentation titles were announced, with some star-studded projects in the mix. Now, Escobar: Paradise Lost, starring Benicio del Toro as the infamous drug lord, will have its world premiere at Tiff, as will The Forger, with John Travolta, Christopher Plummer and Tye Sheridan.

Other promising projects newly announced to be screening at Tiff are Win Win director Thomas McCarthy’s The Cobbler, which finds Adam Sandler taking on a rare dramatic role; Clouds of Sils Maria, which stars Juliette Binoche as an aging actress who confronts the young starlet (Chloe Grace Moretz) taking on the role that made her famous decades earlier; and Gemma Bovery, starring Gemma Arterton as the sensual object of a French food critic’s affection. Check out the full list of new...

The 39th Toronto International Film Festival added another seven Galas and 17 Special Presentations to its September fest lineup running September 4 to 14. Here are the newcomers:

Galas

Boychoir François Girard, USA World Premiere

An orphaned 12-year-old boy is sent to prestigious music school where he struggles to join an elite group of world-class singers. No one expects this rebellious loner to succeed, least of all the school’s relentlessly-tough conductor who wages a battle of wills to bring out the boy’s extraordinary musical gift. Starring Dustin Hoffman, Kathy Bates, Josh Lucas, Kevin McHale, Eddie Izzard, Debra Winger and Garrett Wareing.

The Connection (La French) Cédric Jimenez, France/Belgium World Premiere

Marseille, 1975. Pierre Michel, a young police magistrate with a wife and children, has just been transferred to help crack down on the city’s organized crime. He decides to take on the French Connection, a Mafia-run operation that exports heroin all over the world.